


Misunderstanding

by sadgirlsidney



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Misunderstandings, Scars, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:34:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadgirlsidney/pseuds/sadgirlsidney
Summary: Steve overhears a conversation between Y/N and Nat and takes her words out of context, and things just snowball from there.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Reader, Steve Rogers/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 115





	Misunderstanding

“—and I don’t want to hurt him.”

Steve paused at the common room entrance upon hearing her sweet, familiar voice. 

“I thought things were going well?” Steve made out Natasha’s concerned tone, leaning closer to the doorway.

“I just -“ Y/N sighed. “Things are just casual right now, Nat. I don’t want to do anything to make it too serious.”

Steve’s heart dropped. Of course this wasn’t serious for her, she was just seeing what it would be like to date Captain America. He quickly backed up and walked away from the common room, hurt and angered by what he had overheard.

Y/N ran a hand through her long, silky hair in distress. “Nat, Steve only knows me as this fun, lighthearted, easygoing girl. What’s going to happen when he finds out about the real me? He’s going to lose whatever attraction he might’ve had for me.”

Natasha hummed comfortingly, placing a hand on Y/N’s knee. “Steve knows the real you, honey. This is just another piece of the real you.”

Y/N opened her mouth to disagree, but Nat cut her off quickly. “And I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you - there’s absolutely no doubt about his attraction towards you, and everyone knows it.”

“I don’t know, Nat. I just don’t think now’s the right time to tell him about it. I mean, I’ll have to eventually, but… not now. Not yet,” Y/N decided sadly. 

———

“What did that bag ever do to you, punk?”

Steve ignored Bucky’s presence in the training room and continued his workout, putting his entire body weight into his punches. 

Bucky sighed and walked right up to his friend, grabbing his arm mid-punch. “Seriously, what’s up?”

Steve shook off Bucky’s grasp and moved to grab his water bottle. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he grumbled.

“Got anything to do with Y/N?” Bucky guessed. The two had been getting notably closer lately, and Bucky was glad to see Steve letting his guard down around the girl. “Trouble in paradise already?”

Steve shot Bucky a look. “There’s no trouble. There’s no anything, not anymore,” he bit out. “Apparently, she doesn’t want to do anything to make things too serious. I’m just a fun conquest for her. I should’ve known.”  
Bucky frowned. “Really? It didn’t seem that way, Stevie. Nat told me Y/N hadn’t been seeing anyone in a while, and took dating pretty seriously. I guess she has some insecurity issues.”

“Well, she puts up a good act, I’ll give her that. From what I gathered, this was nothing more than a fling for her.” With that, Steve got up and stalked out of the training room, leaving a confused and doubtful Bucky behind.

———

Y/N was confused. No, that’s not quite it; she’s more just hurt. It really shouldn’t be confusing - of course Steve wouldn’t actually be interested in her. She was kidding herself thinking that Steve was attracted to someone like her. She read all of the signs wrong and saw only what she wanted to see.

Steve hasn’t spoken to Y/N in a full week, which is truly a feat since there haven’t been any missions during that time, and they live in the same tower. Y/N knew that Steve was making a point to avoid her. If only she knew which of the many reasons her brain had conjured up was to blame for his sudden disappearance.

Y/N felt ridiculous for believing that there was something between the two of them. She expressed this to Nat, who was just as mystified as Y/N by Steve’s actions, as well as angered on behalf of her friend.

Nat finally caught Steve walking back to his room after his morning run, and quickly entered behind him, slamming the door.

“What the hell, Natasha?” Steve exclaimed, annoyed. 

“You tell me first, Rogers. That poor girl has been beating herself up for the past week wondering what she did wrong to make you ignore her.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I doubt she even cares all that much,” he scoffed.

Natasha felt like hitting Steve in his big, stupid head. “What does that even mean?”

Steve stared right into Nat’s face heatedly. “I heard her, Nat. I heard her talking to you, telling you that she didn’t want things to be serious between us. She’s just like the others, she was just using me, and she’s annoyed that I didn’t give her the chance to.”

Now, Nat really felt like she could strangle the man. “So first you were eavesdropping, and then made a stupid conclusion based on one tiny sentence that you heard out of context?” she snapped at him. 

“Well what else could she have meant by that?” Steve replied indignantly. 

Nat’s face flamed with injustice for her friend. “Steve, that girl has been through more than you might ever know. I’m not at liberty to tell you all of her secrets, but she is terrified to show you the dark parts of herself. That’s what she meant by wanting to keep things from getting too serious, too fast. She doesn’t want to put that on you, you idiot” Natasha explained heatedly. 

Steve felt his heart stop at this information. “What- I didn’t-“ 

“What, Steve? You didn’t know? Of course you didn’t, you didn’t even think to ask. Meanwhile, Y/N is breaking down because the guy she really likes has been ignoring her for an entire week, and she thinks it’s all her fault.” Natasha shoved a frozen Steve out of the room. “Go fix it.”

———

Y/N took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart rate. She was trying to stop herself from doing anything stupid and impulsive when she heard a knock on her door.

“It’s open,” she called with a hoarse voice, assuming Natasha was coming to check on her yet again.

She heard quiet footsteps reaching her and looked up from her spot at the foot of her bed, stiffening when she saw who had entered.

“Oh, um,” Y/N turned away to quickly wipe her face and fix her hair. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Steve spoke softly. “Got a minute to talk?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Y/N said, quickly standing up and moving to her couch. “Are you okay?” she asked, her brow furrowing slightly.

Steve smiled sadly. “I should be asking you that, doll.”

Y/N tried to smile as normally as possible. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired but I’m okay, I’m good,” she said unconvincingly.

“Listen, Y/N,” Steve started nervously. “I am so sorry about my behavior this week. I… well, there’s really no good way to say this, but I-“

“It’s okay Steve,” Y/N cut him off. “You don’t have to, I understand,” she said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to want to take this any further. It’s okay, we’re still friends,” she assured him, looking away as her eyes began watering.

Steve’s heart broke at her statement. “Y/N, doll, that’s not it,” he said quickly, mentally slapping himself in the face for feeding her insecurity. “I do want this. I mean, if you do too. I was just worried that maybe you weren’t as into it, didn’t want things to get as serious as I was looking for…” he trailed off.

Y/N furrowed her brows, looking up at him. “What do you mean? Of course I want to. You are the best man I’ve ever known, Steve. You’re sweet and kind and honestly, way too good for someone like me,” she chuckled half-heartedly. 

Steve shook his head, reaching to grab her face softly. “Y/N, you are sweet and kind and good. I promise. I was just worried because I had overheard you talking to Natasha about wanting to keep things casual, but I know that was a misunderstanding. You deserve good things, doll, really. You deserve better than me.”

A look of understanding passed over Y/N’s face. “Oh,” she said quietly. “No, that wasn’t, I wasn’t -“ she stopped, running her hands over her face in frustration. “It’s me, Steve. I’m afraid that if you know me, you won’t… you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t want to know me,” she said, her voice breaking.

Steve grabbed her small hands in his warm ones and rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. “I know you, Y/N. And I care about you. What could you possibly tell me that would make me want to run away?” 

Y/N felt the tears and insecurity building up at Steve’s gentle tone. She turned to face Steve, and slowly pulled up the hem of her shorts. 

She didn’t need to look at Steve’s face to hear his sharp intake of breath. She knew that her scars with various stages of healing weren’t pretty. She wasn’t pretty. None of this was pretty.

After a few moments of silence, Y/N bowed her head, backing away from the man beside her on the sofa. “I understand if you don’t want to… do this,” she spoke quietly. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Steve gently ran his fingers over the raised scars on Y/N’s thigh. “Baby…” he breathed, his voice breaking slightly. “Honey, thank you for trusting me with this.”

Y/N’s head snapped up in confusion. “What?”

“Doll, I want to know all of you. I want to know your darkness and your hurt. I want to know you on your best days and your worst days. I don’t want you to be afraid to show me this side of you,” Steve told her, his eyes not breaking contact with hers.

“Steve… you can’t… this can’t be attractive to you.”

Steve’s eyes were hard and determined as he looked into hers. “Y/N, do you know what I see?” he asked. “I see a strong woman who has lived, who has been through it and still has so much love for the people around her. I see a woman full of grace and beauty and strength, and my God that is so incredibly attractive.”

Y/N shook her head, a quiet sob coming from her. “Steve-“

Steve shushed her. “Absolutely not, doll. I will make it my mission for you to know just how special and precious you are. Will you give me a chance to do that, baby? Will you let me know you, please?”

Y/N breathed out in disbelief of the real-life angel holding onto her. “I can try. I want to try, Stevie.”

Steve pulled her into him, kissing the top of her head gently. “That’s all I want, honey. That’s all I want.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is essentially just me trying to calm my own fears about entering a new relationship, lol. But if it resonates with anyone else as well, all the better.


End file.
